


The Weight Of A Nation

by ForbiddenFeathers



Series: Olympics AU [1]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Olympics, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Diving, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Olympics, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-10 00:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7823500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForbiddenFeathers/pseuds/ForbiddenFeathers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Olympics AU where Roman and Matze are synchro divers and favourites to win the gold medal at the Olympics but the pressure is too high on them and Matze breaks down in front of Roman before the final...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Weight Of A Nation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mrsdortmund](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsdortmund/gifts).



> Basically me trying to get over my "the-Olympics-ends-on-Sunday-and-I-am-not ready-for-it" blues so prepare yourselves for a new series all about your favourite Borussers in Olympics sports :D
> 
> Also a massive thank you to my bff Erika for helping me with this, I couldn't do it without you!!! <3

The pressure had been so high on them since before it was announced that they had qualified for the Olympics, and Matze had never exactly been good at dealing with high expectations or pressure for that matter. 

But now here they were, in Rio, in a major final, and he was breaking down before their first dive had even been called.

“Matze, we need to be at the platform in 5 minutes, what are you doing in here” Roman asked softly as he walked into the dressing rooms to find his diving partner. 

They had been diving together since Matze was 7 and Roman was 11, and had been the hope of Germany in the diving world almost since day one. Which was why they had found themselves at the Olympics, representing Germany in the 10m platform synchronised diving competition for the first time. 

“Roman, I can’t… I can’t do it…” Matze mumbled and drew his legs closer to his chest. He was still wearing the awful tracksuit that Germany had provided for them, and Roman instantly knew it was the nerves of not being good enough, not being what their country needed them to be. 

After all, he had known him most of his life, and this was how his best friend sounded when he was letting his nerves get away with him. 

“Matze…” He sighed and sat down on the floor next the crying boy. “We have been fighting for this, for years. This is our moment!! We are gold favourites and you know we are good enough to win this. Please don’t doubt yourself. Not now…” 

“I just… I have a feeling that I’m gonna fail terribly today, and disappoint both you and our country. They believe too much in me.” Matze cried into his arms that he still had wrapped tightly around himself.

“No you are not. I know you, you don’t fail a dive, ever. And today is not gonna be the first time you screw up. I’m the one that always fail and screw up, and I am still pumped about going out there and show those bloody Chinese who is the really champions here. They might have beat us at the worlds, but we are way better than they are. Come on Matze, it’s our turn next!” Roman tried to pull his best friend off the floor, but Matze refused to budge.

“I’m gonna fail, I’m not going out there.” He stood up and started putting on his socks that he had taken off when trying to get ready, when the boat of self-doubt hit him.

“Why? And please don’t lie and say that it’s just because you are afraid to fail, because I’ve seen you be afraid to fail before, but this is not it.” Roman begged as he was desperate to get him to realise that this was the biggest opportunity of both of their lives and it might not come again if they didn’t go through with their 6 dives. 

“I’m scared that if we don’t win, nobody will ever love me again.” Matze whispered so quietly that Roman barely caught it.

Looking down to the floor, he understood where his friend was coming from, and taking a deep breath, he let out the one secret he had kept from his friend since he was 15.

“I will…” 

It was so quiet and soft that Matze almost thought he was hearing things that wasn’t true.

“You love me? But… I’m nothing special?” He was baffled. Anyone who’s ever laid eyes on Roman knew that he was good looking enough to have anyone he wanted, so how could he ever want Matze?

“Yeah… For close to ten years now… You are special, to me at least. I’m sorry, please don’t hate me.” Roman looked like he wanted to run away, but Matze grabbed his arm and pulled him into a kiss. 

“I love you too.” He said before ripping his tracksuit off, and dragging Roman to the platform.

As they walked up the stairs to the platform, he started smiling. Now that he knew that Roman would love him, no matter what, he was ready to face the competition.

They nailed the first dive, just managing to get out of the water as the stadium speaker yells out their score.

“… 8.5, 9.0, 9,5…” the speaker squealed as the crowd went wild. “88.83”

“HELL YES!!! THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT!!!” their coach, Tuchel, yelled as they approached him on their way back to the dressing room.

“You were amazing out there, I have never seen you dive like that before!! Oh I love you so much!!” Roman gushed and picked up Matze in his arms as soon as they were out of sight from the cameras.

“Me? What about yourself? Did you see those scores? Not even the Brits are gonna catch us today!!” Matze laughed as Roman spun him around. 

The next round went even better, and they landed a solid first place with the British pair one point underneath it. 

At the end of the competition they were so far ahead that the nearest competitors were ten points below them, and they still needed to do their final dive.

Standing next to each other on the edge of the platform, Roman slowly started to count down before jumping of and completing their three and a half somersault with one and a half twist.

Matze hit the water, feeling the adrenaline pumping through his body. As he and Roman waited for the winner to be announced, he feared that even though his gut feeling told him that they won, the British pair would beat them.

“The final scores are in…Bronze for China!! Silver for Great Britain!! GOLD FOR GERMANY!!” the speaker sounded loudly as he started crying, for joy this time. 

“WE DID IT!! WE DID IT!!!” Roman yelled and jumped up and down next to a shell shocked Matze.

“Oh my God…” Roman didn’t have time to react before Matze jumped in his arms and kissed him in front of everybody.

It might have felt great to win the Olympics, but winning each other’s hearts was what made it all better.


End file.
